Bee Movie is a 2007 computer animated family comedy film starring Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Barry Levinson, Megan Mullally, Rip Torn and Patrick Warburton. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it is directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner.

Bee Movie is the first motion-picture script to be written by Seinfeld, who co-wrote it with Spike Feresten, Barry Marder, and Andy Robin. The film was produced by Jerry Seinfeld, Christina Steinberg and Cameron Stevning. The production was designed by Alex McDowell, and Christophe Lautrette was the art director. Nick Fletcher was the supervising editor and music for the film was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams.

The cast and crew include some veterans of Seinfeld's long-running NBC sitcom Seinfeld, including writer/producers Feresten and Robin, and actors Michael Richards (Seinfeld character Cosmo Kramer), Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld character David Puddy), and Larry Miller (who plays the title character on the Seinfeld episode "The Doorman"). Coincidentally, NBC was host to the broadcast television premiere of the film on November 27, 2010.^[3]

Plot[link]

Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) is "just an ordinary bee" in a hive in Sheep Meadow, Central Park in New York City. Barry recently graduated from college and is about to enter the hive's Honex Industries (a division of Honesco Corporation and owned by the Hexagon Group) honey-making workforce. With his best friend Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick), Barry is initially very excited, but his latent, non-conformist attitude emerges upon finding out that his choice of job will never change once picked. This prompts Barry to leave the hive and see the world on a daily run with the macho, elite "Pollen Jocks", though Adam tries to talk Barry out of it. He thoroughly enjoys his new freedom, and is impressed by the process of nectar collection and pollination, but after being stuck to a tennis ball during a game and flying through a panicking family's car he decides humans are crazy and that he should go home. Unfortunately, it begins to rain and he crash lands on a windowsill. The apartment's occupants have just come home and they close the window before Barry can escape. After freaking out the people inside and nearly being squashed, he is rescued by a florist named Vanessa Bloome (Renée Zellweger) and gently put back outside. This unexpected act of kindness intrigues Barry, who goes back in to thank the woman even though doing so violates Bee Law #1, "Don't talk to humans". Despite both of their expectations they develop an instant bond, bordering on attraction, and start hanging out together frequently. Of course all of their friends and family are completely upset by this relationship.

While they are going through a grocery store, Barry is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bees' honey for centuries and decides to journey to Honey Farms, which supplies the grocery store with its honey. On the Honey Farms truck, he meets a mosquito named Mooseblood (Chris Rock). A windshield wiper flings the two in a tube and Barry tells Mooseblood about Honey Farms while Mooseblood tells him about how humans have always swatted mosquitoes. Mooseblood departs when he sees a Blood Mobile pass by, while Barry goes on to witness the artificial process by which the honey is gathered. He ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race for stealing their precious honey. This is later shown on Hive at Five's especially on Bee Larry King starring a bee version of Larry King (in a cameo appearance). The trial initially goes well, until the main defense lawyer (John Goodman) goads Adam into stinging him by accusing Barry of several things which are insulting to the bees (having a pet-like relationship with Vanessa, being an illegitimate son, since all bees are sons of the queen bee, and having incestuous flirtings with the female bees, since all bees are siblings) to show the less-lovable side of bees. Barry counters by producing the smoke-machine used by Honey Farms to drug and subdue their bees.

Barry wins the lawsuit, and all honey in the world is confiscated and returned to the bees. However, the defense lawyer warns them they are disrupting nature's balance meaning that the bees quit their jobs, which Adam comments to Vanessa that it might be true since bees had been living their previous lives over 27 million years. Too late, Barry and Vanessa realize that they were right: The sudden, massive stockpile of honey has put every bee out of a job, including the vitally important Pollen Jocks. Without bees pollinating the flowers, all plant life begins dying with the entire food chain close behind. To set things right, he and Vanessa find a way to save all the flowers by going to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California and bringing back with them all the pollen-filled flowers to re-pollinate the world. Barry and Vanessa fly the flowers as luggage on a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The flight begins to take a detour due to lightning, and the delay would be fatal to the flowers. Trying to intervene, Barry accidentally knocks out the terrified pilots. Vanessa joins him and tries unsuccessfully to fly the plane. In the meantime, millions of bees have rallied and arrive at the last minute to help them safely land.

Armed with the pollen of the last flowers, Barry and the Pollen Jocks manage to reverse the damage and save the world's flowers, restarting the bees' beloved honey production. Nothing is mentioned about the fate of companies like Honey Farms, though humans and bees are seen treating each other visibly better, and honey is supposed to be 'Bee approved'. Barry becomes a member of the Pollen Jocks while Adam is working as a krelman, helping to pollinate the plants while running a law firm inside Vanessa's flower shop, as well as helping Vanessa, switching the name from "Vanessa's Flowers" to "Vanessa & Barry: Flowers * Honey * Legal Advice." As the film closes, his office door reads "Insects at Law." Mooseblood works in his office with him as a lawyer (stating that he is already a bloodsucking parasite and only needed a briefcase), which is shown when Barry is interviewing a cow about the human exploitation of her milk.

Voice cast[link]

• Jerry Seinfeld as Barry B. Benson, the main character.
• Renée Zellweger as Vanessa Bloome
• Matthew Broderick as Adam Flayman
• Chris Rock as Mooseblood the Mosquito
• Patrick Warburton as Ken
• Kathy Bates as Janet B. Benson
• Barry Levinson as Martin B. Benson
• John Goodman as Layton T. Montgomery
• Megan Mullally as Trudy, Honex Tour Guide
• Rip Torn as Lou Lo Duca and the Pollen Jocks General
• Oprah Winfrey as Judge Bumbleton
• Michael Richards as Bud Ditchwater
• Larry King as Bee Larry King
• Larry Miller as Dean Buzzwell
• Jim Cummings as Title Narrator and Graduation Announcer
• Brian Hopkins as Sandy Shrimpkin and TSA Agent
• John DiMaggio as Bailiff, Janitor
• Tress MacNeille as Jeanette Chung, Mother, Cow
• Simon J. Smith as Truck Driver and Chet
• Robert Jayne as Bee (uncredited)
• Ray Liotta as Himself
• Sting as Himself
• Carl Kasell as Himself (uncredited)

Cast notes[link]

Megan Mullally was originally voicing the Queen of the Hive and had even recorded her lines; yet, because of film cuts, her character was cut. Jerry Seinfeld still wanted her to have a part in the movie, so he gave her the role of the Honex Tour Guide. At one point, Uma Thurman, Rebecca Soler, Lisa Kudrow, David Letterman, and Raven Symone were all attached; they dropped out for various reasons.^{[citation needed]}.

Cultural references[link]

The movie contains several references to film classics. Its very title is homophonous with the expression "B movie". The scene, in which Barry is floating in a pool of honey while his parents ask him what his plans for the future are, is a direct reference to The Graduate in which Dustin Hoffman in a swimming pool faces the same questions from his parents. A scene where Barry is trying to chase a honey truck has Barry mimicking movements of Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When Ray Liotta is at the stand in court, Barry says, "This isn't a good fella. This is a bad fella!", referring to Liotta's role in Goodfellas. In the courtroom Mr. Montgomery is reading The Secret Life of Bees. Winnie-the-Pooh can be seen with Piglet as the man knocks out Pooh with a suction cup, and his honey (spelled "Hunny") is confiscated. When Barry questions the owner of Honey Farms (the honey company in the movie, whose name parodies Pepperidge Farm), it appears that the owner also owns the fictitious companies "Honeyburton" and "Honron", which parodies Halliburton and Enron. A brown bear that was released in the court bore a strong resemblance to Vincent the bear of Over the Hedge made a cameo but with no voice. It also contains a reference to George Lucas' company THX. The bees toppling a bear shaped honey bottle in their hive to spill the honey out is somewhat a reference to the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Firdos Square, during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Sting makes a brief appearance- he is accused of "casually stealing bee culture"- referring to his stage name "Sting", and is also noted that he isn't a policeman, either. When it is time to shut down honey production, the plant supervisor instructs one of his underlings with the statement "Turn your key sir!"; this is reference to "Sir, we are at launch, turn your key! Turn your key, sir!" from the movie WarGames (coincidentally Matthew Broderick who plays Adam Flayman portrays David Lightman in WarGames).

The scene where Barry plans the flower heist bears a striking resemblance to Oceans Eleven. The scene where Barry and Vanessa continually slap each other and repeatedly state "Snap Out Of It", bears a striking similarity to a scene from Airplane. Near the end of the film, a flight controller in the JFK Airport control tower exclaims if he's "kuckoo-ka-choo", a reference to "Mrs Robinson" by Simon And Garfunkel (also from The Graduate) in response to the aircraft oddly hovering above ground.

Barry's parents are watching BeeNN, a direct parody of CNN. Barry is interviewed by a TV host named Bee Larry King (voiced by the actual Larry King) and mentions that there is a human called Larry King that also has his own talk show. In the beginning of the film, Barry is asked to sign a waiver before flying out with the "Pollen Jocks". Barry signs with his left hand. Jerry Seinfeld is actually left-handed.

At the graduation ceremony in the beginning of the movie, the seating areas all break up and move into a single file to go on the Honex tour. The traveling seating areas are similar to the real-life traveling theater system used in the Universe of Energy at Epcot.

Soundtrack[link]

• "Pomp and Circumstance Marches"
• "Here Comes the Sun" - Sheryl Crow
• "Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies
• "Thinkin' Bee" - Jerry Seinfeld & Matthew Broderick

Marketing[link]

Trailers[link]

Two teaser trailers were released for the film that feature Seinfeld dressed in a bee costume, trying to shoot the film in live-action. Eddie Izzard portrays the direction agent, and Steven Spielberg suggests to Seinfeld in the second trailer to just do it as a cartoon. Upon the release of the first trailer, it was announced that three of the live-action teasers would be released in total.

In the second trailer, Steven Spielberg is taking a picture of himself and a assistant director, referencing the camera gag Ellen DeGeneres pulled on him during the 79th Academy Awards. Also in the second trailer, the bear that jumps out at Barry is Vincent the Bear from Over the Hedge, another DreamWorks movie.

The third trailer was released with Shrek the Third, but this was an animated teaser. The fourth trailer was released on the Bee Movie official website, and revealed most of the film's plot.

In addition, two weeks before the release, NBC aired 22 behind-the-scenes skits called "Bee Movie TV Juniors," all of which are staged and tongue-in-cheek in nature.

The popular internet site Gaia Online featured a great deal of promotional material for the film.^[4]

Books[link]

• Bee Movie: The Story Book ISBN = 978-0-06-125179-5
• Bee Movie: The Honey Disaster ISBN = 978-0-06-125166-5
• The Art of Bee ISBN = 978-0-8118-5951-6
• Bee Movie: Deluxe Sound Storybook ISBN = 978-0-696-23384-5
• Bee Movie (Ultimate Sticker Books) ISBN = 978-0-7566-3214-4
• Bee Movie (I Can Find It) ISBN = 978-0-696-23385-2
• Bee Movie: The Junior Novel ISBN = 978-0-06-125178-8
• Bee Movie: What’s the Buzz? ISBN = 978-0-06-125177-1
• Bee Movie Mad Libs ISBN = 978-0-8431-2675-4
• Bee Movie: Bee Meets Girl ISBN = 978-0-06-125174-0

Home media[link]

Bee Movie was released on DVD on March 11, 2008 in both Fullscreen and Widescreen formats and a 2 Disc Special Edition DVD. The single-disc extras include Inside The Hive: The Cast of Bee Movie featurette, Tech of Bee Movie featurette, "We Got The Bee" Music Video, Meet Barry B. Benson feature, interactive games, and more. The special edition DVD Extras will include all that, along with a filmmaker commentary, alternate endings, lost scenes with commentary, the live action trailers, and Jerry's Flight Over Cannes. HD DVD version was cancelled after the demise of HD DVD.^[5] Paramount released the movie on Blu-ray Disc on 20 May 2008.^[6]

Reception[link]

Critical reception[link]

Critical response was mixed, with 51% on Rotten Tomatoes and 54/100 on Metacritic. In a lackluster review, People magazine said, "Much of Bee is gently funny, the vocal performances are distinctive and the digital animation glistens, but in the end the characters and story lack — wait for it — sting."^[7]

Bee Movie was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 65th Golden Globe Awards.^[8]

Barry B. Benson was the announcer for Best Animated Short on the Oscars for 2008. But beforehand, he showed the audience some of his "prior" roles, including every bee in the swarm in The Swarm.

Box office[link]

The film opened in second place to American Gangster, but its gross of $38,021,044 had it more in line with the studios' lowest-grossing features, such as Shark Tale. The film had an average of $9,679 from 3,928 theaters. In its second weekend, the film held well with a 33% drop to $25,565,462 and claiming the top spot, resulting in a $6,482 average from expanding to 3,944 theaters. Its widest release was 3,984 theaters, and closed on February 14, 2008 after 104 days of release, grossing $126,631,277 domestically along with an additional $160,963,300 overseas for a worldwide total of $287,594,577. Produced on a $150 million budget, the film was a moderate box office success worldwide, but was not successful in the United States and is DreamWorks Animation's lowest-grossing computer-animated film to date. It was #3 in the UK Box office (behind Enchanted and The Golden Compass).

Awards and nominations[link]

Lawsuits[link]

Beebylon vs. DreamWorks[link]

Bee Movie is alleged to be similar to a concept developed in 2000 by a team of Swedish animation students, which they claim was presented to DreamWorks in 2001 under the name Beebylon. The animation students say DreamWorks rejected the idea, on the basis of it being "too childish." When Bee Movie was announced in 2003, the students claim they once again contacted DreamWorks to make sure the movie was not similar to their original concept, and was given a reassuring answer. When one of the members of the Beebylon team saw a trailer of the movie in 2007, he found it to be extremely similar and attempted to find a U.S. lawyer who could represent them.

Jerry Seinfeld rejected the plagiarism claims during his PR tour for Bee Movie in Sweden. "I'm doing my best not to laugh and I'm taking it as serious as I can. But it's a little bit hard. It is entirely possible that somebody else came up with an idea about making a movie about bees. I knew nothing of this until this very morning and I hope they are not too upset."^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}

Beeceuticals vs. DreamWorks[link]

A Florida based cosmetics company called Beeceuticals has filed a lawsuit over the use of their trademarked phrase "Give Bees a Chance".^[15][16] The suit between the parties was settled out of court.^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bee Movie

• Official website
• Bee Movie at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Bee Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Bee Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bee Movie at Metacritic
• Bee Movie at Box Office Mojo
• Bee Movie at AllRovi